I Know Nothing
by Teh Pocky Ninja
Summary: Sasuke comes back to Konoha with a broken heart and icy curse. Sakura's the only one who can start his heart up again. Ridiculously OOC, product of boredom and sugar. Blame the sugar.


_"Only when you admit you know nothing, can you truly begin to learn."_

**I Know Nothing**

* * *

_"I know nothing of love. I need someone to teach me."_

Sakura silently observed her old teammate as he sat upright in a hospital cot, rereading an old magazine for the fourth time. Her old daydreams of what she had wished he'd say to her someday floated through her mind, most of them having been the product of her girlish crush on him back when they were twelve.

_"Please, sweetheart…come with me, I want you, I need you…I love you. I can't live without you, you're my soul mate…"_

She should be happy to see him. He had come back, after all. Of his own free will, not dragged back kicking and screaming by Naruto.

_"Your kisses taste so exquisite…it's like a drug, and I think I'm addicted…"_

She watched him turn a page, his dark, half-closed eyes slowly flickering across the words and pictures. Those eyes that could seem colder than ice when angry, and yet unexpectedly soft in those rare moments of complete serenity.

_"Shh, don't cry, Sakura. It'll be all right. After every rainstorm, there's always sunshine. And sometimes if you're lucky, a rainbow."_

Her eyes traveled over him, noting the differences from the last time she had seen him. What was there to say? He was still handsome, but seemed gaunt and lifeless. He was an unhealthy shade of pale, and had dark circles around his eyes, but was still attractive. Sakura hated biology at that moment, it was making her think of him in a way she had said she'd given up. It didn't help that only bandages covered his upper half from the stomach up.

_"Don't ever leave me. I love you, I would die without you…"_

She flinched when his eyes looked directly at her. Well, not at her specifically, just the camera situated in his hospital room. Though it felt so much like he was really watching her, it gave her the shivers. She glanced away from the screen she was watching him on, and when she looked again he was back to reading his magazine.

_"I'll protect you with my life. This I swear."_

He glanced up again. Sakura's eyes widened when he motioned to the camera. No, he was motioning to _her_. He knew she was watching him.

_"What's the matter? Are you upset? Come here, I'll make it all better."_

She pushed herself out of her chair and closed the door to the hospital's security room behind her. It was past midnight, even the custodian had gone home. But she had stayed, driven by some force to just sit there and watch him for hours.

_"Don't bother, you're too weak to walk. That was a tough training session, wasn't it? Here, I'll carry you home."_

She stopped before his door, noting the little stream of light that shone out from under it. In her mind, she debated whether or not to enter.

_"Nobody could ever replace you. You're beautiful, smart, kind, and completely stubborn. You're absolutely perfect."_

Slowly, she pushed open his door, squinting from the bright light after the darkness of the hospital hallways. He sat there silently, looking at her with a blank face. Emotionless as always.

"Well?" she said, the glare on her vision less intense now.

He said nothing, instead motioning to her again. She reluctantly took a few steps closer. "What's this all about?"

He placed a hand on his chest, over his heart, and closed his eyes. Sakura worriedly walked closer until she stood by the side of his bed.

"What? What is it?" she asked.

He looked up at her. His eyes were neither cold nor warm. They were watery, as if he was about to cry. Imagine that, the great Uchiha shedding tears.

"It's my heart," he said quietly, his first spoken words to her in almost five years.

"What…what's wrong with it?" asked Sakura, concerned despite herself.

He glanced back at her with those same eyes, looking like they were about to spill over. Sakura found some of her original contempt for him dissolving.

He sighed. "I…I think it's…"

"…What?" murmured Sakura.

He closed his eyes again. "It stopped working. It's not beating anymore."

"Tha-that's impossible," stuttered Sakura. "If it wasn't beating, you'd be dead."

He looked at her again with his sad gaze. "I think I already am, Sakura. I died a very long time ago. I died when I left everything I loved behind."

"No, no you're not _really_ dead," protested Sakura. "You're talking, aren't you? Can dead people do _that_?"

Surprisingly, he picked up her hand and placed it over his heart, over his freezing cold chest. Sakura gasped.

"It…it can't be…there's no way…" she stammered.

The Uchiha had no pulse.

"How are you still breathing?" she asked, staring at him in disbelief.

"I don't know," he said. "It's been like this ever since…ever since I left."

"How can you still be alive?" whispered Sakura, feeling her own eyes grow teary. "Without a heart, how does your blood circulate? How can your brain still be working without oxygen?"

"I'll take it you became a medic with that kind of talk," he said, ignoring her questions. "That must've taken a while."

"T-two years," Sakura stammered, her fingers still detecting no familiar thumping rhythm under his frosty skin. "Two long years."

He removed her fingers, instead placing his other hand over hers as well. They were both icy-cold to the touch. Sakura instinctively brought up her other hand and tried to rub some warmth back into them.

"It won't work," he mumbled sadly. "My body won't retain heat either. I always make other people cold when I touch them."

"No, that's impossible," murmured Sakura, breathing onto his hands and trying to warm them with hers. In her mind, her tenacious side kicked in, with an I'll-do-this-just-you-wait-and-see attitude.

"Please…stop," he said. "You'll just waste all of your heat on me."

"I won't, you'll see," she answered, though her fingers were beginning to turn numb. "You'll be warmed up in no time."

He pulled his hands out of her grasp, instead dropping them to his sides.

"I won't. You'll just get colder and colder until you die."

Sakura gasped silently. "Wh-what?"

"I don't want to kill you."

She could only stare at him. With his heart alone, he was impossible enough, but freezing people to death?

"How did…this happen?"

His eyes gained a far-off look.

"It was…on the way to the Sound village. One day I just woke up and my heart had stopped. I panicked at first, but then learned to live with it. I became colder the longer I stayed in the Sound. At first, it was just a little chill. Eventually, anybody who stayed in contact with me long enough froze to death."

Sakura couldn't stop her tears from falling. "S-Sasuke…"

"I don't want this," he continued. "I want my heart to start up again. I want to be able to touch people without the risk of killing them. I want to be the way I was."

"Is…is there any way to stop it?" Sakura asked desperately. "Is there anything to put you back to normal?"

"I don't know," he answered.

"Sasuke…" Sakura said softly, tears still streaming down her face. "I'd do anything to help you. I can't bear to see you like this. If there's anything at all I could do to cure you…"

His eyes widened slightly. "You'd do that? You…you still care about me?"

Sakura ignored every thought in her mind at that moment and said, "Yes. Yes, I do. I was mad at you for a little while, but I want my teammate back. I want my Sasuke back with me."

"…Why?" was his only response.

"Because…" said Sakura, wiping away some tears with her hand. "I still…"

"Even after what I did to you? After how I treated you?"

"Yes," she said, picking up his icy hand again despite his warning. "I still do."

He tried pulling his hand out of her grip again, saying, "Sakura, please…let go. You'll freeze to death."

"I won't," she protested. Her hands traveled up his arm, attempting to create some spark of warmth in his wintry body. He tried gently pushing her off, underestimating her monstrous strength.

"Sasuke, just let me try," she whispered, her fingers on his shoulders now, though it felt like submerging herself in ice. "You never know what might happen unless you give it a shot."

"Sakura, stop! I don't want you to die!" he shouted, pulling away from her.

She flinched at his raised voice, used to hearing soft half-whispers.

"Why not…what would it matter to you if I did?" she asked quietly.

He turned away from her, staring at the wall next to his bed.

"I…I'd be sad…if you left. And if it was me who killed you…I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I'd…probably go along with you."

Sakura gasped. "Sasuke! You can't talk about ending your life like that!"

He closed his eyes. "I've already tried, Sakura. But it doesn't work."

"Wha…what are you talking about?"

"There's no blood…I don't bleed anymore. There's no physical pain, either. The only hurt is in here," he said, touching the space over his heart again.

Sakura, regardless of his multiple warnings, clambered next to him on his cot and threw her arms around his bandaged torso, ignoring the bitter chill that penetrated her when she pressed her head against his neck, tears still streaming down her face.

"Sasuke…I know what's wrong with you," she said softly, oblivious to his hands attempting to pry her off of himself. "Your heart…it's just broken isn't it? Your spirit is as well. You're wondering what there is left for you in this earth, and why you even bother to continue living."

His pushes ceased, and she could feel him staring at the top of her head uncertainly.

"Sasuke, I can't fix you, only you yourself can," she continued. "You have to let go of your grudges, and just let yourself wake up. Please…do it for me. Wake up, Sasuke…wake up."

She could see her breath floating against him, despite it being the middle of June. Every part of her body touching him had become numb. She felt a frosty slumber tugging at her eyes, urging them to close and never open again.

Sasuke stared at the sleepy look on her face. She was getting closer to death without even knowing it.

"Sakura…Sakura! Don't go!" he said frantically, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Don't leave me!"

"Sa-…-suke…" she whispered weakly, "Wake up…"

"Sakura, you can't die! You have to live, you must! Who am I to love if you're gone?"

Sakura's eyes fluttered open, widening slowly. It was just a little, but the sleepy feeling was disappearing. She looked up at her old teammate, and stared as, ever so slowly, a rosy tint appeared on his face. In a matter of seconds, his paleness disappeared along with the dark circles around his eyes, almost like magic. She felt his hand gently touch her cheek, without the icy sting from before.

"Sasuke…" she whispered in amazement, back to being wide awake. "What happened?"

He stared at his own hand touching her face, then suddenly flinched, blinking rapidly and breathing in short gasps.

"Sasuke?!" said Sakura, worried until a smile flickered across his mouth.

He cautiously took one of her hands from around him, and placed it lightly over his heart.

Sakura's face broke into a wide smile at feeling a rhythmic _lub-dub_ under her fingertips.

"It…it started beating again," she mumbled, gazing into his eyes. Before, they had seemed dull, as if the light had been taken out of them. Now, they sparkled happily, more warmly than Sakura had ever seen them do so before.

"Sakura, you saved me," he breathed, pulling her close to him in a tender embrace without the fear of hurting her. "You brought me back to life."

"You did it yourself," contradicted Sakura, comfortably positioned against his now-pleasantly-warm chest.

"No…you finally woke me up," he said softly. "Sakura…I care about you. You made me remember that."

She blushed a little, remembering just what it was he had said to lift whatever curse he had been under.

Her thoughts were interrupted by his finger and thumb raising her chin up. He was smiling, his cheeks covered by a vibrant reddish tinge.

"Sasuke…"

"Sakura…"

He gently took both her hands in his, nearly covering hers entirely.

"I…I know nothing of love," he murmured.

He leaned closer to her, bright red and wavering nervously.

"I need someone to teach me."

Nothing more needed to be said.

A warm, summer breeze drifted past the window of a certain hospital room. It flickered across the glass, through which two people, _friends_, _teammates_, and finally _lovers_ embraced.

Maybe daydreams weren't so impossible after all.

* * *

Aaaand...Cut! How I do love happy-ending angst...it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. No idea where this came from, just randomly started typing and here it was. Hope you liked. 


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